Dec 8, 2023 5 min read

The of the vet tech lab space gives students more opportunities for hands-on learning. The lab houses an array of equipment, including an autoclave, centrifuges and microscopes.

The Trinity Vet Tech lab, which simulates a real veterinary setting, includes a large pet wash station. Teachers and students can schedule appointments to bring their pets to the lab for routine grooming and other services.

Trinity High School students in the Power Motorsports program learn how to maintain and operate a variety of machinery and equipment, and how to repair outdoor equipment and vehicles. From left are senior Owen Skariot, who is in the Ag Mechanics program, and juniors John Redd and Devin Davis, who are in the Power Motorsports program.

Trinity recently opened a state-of-the-art Trapuzzano Family Greenhouse that features an automated FarmBot.

Trinity High School’s state-of-the-art Power Motorsports Garage houses full-sized bays for students to gain hand-on and classroom experience.

Trinity Area School District recently unveiled new facilities for three of its Career and Technical Education programs at an Open House and ribbon cutting event.

Career and Technical Education classes at Trinity High School are getting students’ motors running. Literally.

The school district recently celebrated the unveiling of its Power Motorsports garage, the Trapuzzano Family Greenhouse, and a vet tech lab, all state-of-the-art facilities built on the high school campus.

Following a ribbon-cutting, administrators, students, parents, alumni and others toured the new sites.

“The board of directors and administration would like to thank our special partners for supporting our career training programs for over a decade,” said Trinity Area School District Superintendent Dr. Michael Lucas, noting the district has received Local Share Account grants for more than a decade to help fund the programs.

The Power Motorsports program is one of nine Career and Technical Education programs offered at Trinity, joining the veterinary technology and a host of agricultural and other career tech training programs.

The programs, developed to bridge the gap between traditional academics and vocational-technical programs, prepare students for a range of career opportunities.

In Power Motorsports, students will focus on learning how to maintain and operate a variety of machinery and equipment.

In addition, students will learn how to diagnose and repair outdoor power equipment, all-terrain vehicles, and UTVs, and cars and light trucks.

“My goal as an educator, and the goal of administrators here, is to give students the opportunity to pursue their passion, so having our CTE programs gives students the opportunity to pursue those passions while at the same time giving them motivation to come to school,” said Power Motorsports instructor Ryan Coyle. “We work to give them all the hard skills they will need in order to be successful in whatever profession they decide to pursue, or to develop the skills to more successfully pursue their hobby.”

The Power Motorsports Garage is a gleaming, 1,597-square-foot space that houses two full-sized bays for hands-on learning, future lecture and classroom space, and a storefront entrance and future parts room to simulate the sales environment.

The building includes a full-size vehicle lift, a motorcycle lift, a tire mounting machine, a tire balancing machine, and built-in air compressor and lines.

Coyle said students have been excited to enroll in the program.

Kaden Smith, a junior, plans to major in engineering after he graduates from high school.

“I’ve really enjoyed this. I enjoy the hands-on learning and the classroom activities. We’ve rebuilt a lot of engines,” said Smith, pointing to a motorcycle that students worked on recently. “We’ve worked on lawn mowers, weed wackers, chainsaws. We’re learning a lot of practical, useful things we can use in everyday life so that, for example, we don’t have to pay people to change our oil. We can do those things ourselves.”

The Trapuzzano Family Greenhouse is a lighted, heated, 648-square-foot greenhouse for year-round plant growing.

The new greenhouse, a key component of the school district’s vo-ag program, replaces a greenhouse donated in 2015 by former Trinity School Board member Ben Trapuzzano and his wife, Shawn.

The greenhouse houses a FarmBot, an automated farming robot with a web app that allows users to drag-and-drop their garden design, like the popular video game Farmville. FarmBot plants seeds, waters each plant according to its type, age, and local weather, takes photos to find and remove weeds, and notifies users when plants are ripe.

Real-world applications to concepts learned in the classroom are a big benefit of CTE, said agriculture instructor Jeannette Hartley.

“This is really cool. This is the new age technology,” said Hartley. “If kids get their foot in the door and see how things work, when they get out into the world, they will have had exposure to this technology. It helps them to have an idea about the things they can do with technology, whether it be in an agriculture career or not.”

Hartley said the greenhouse and its FarmBot is a welcome addition to the agriculture program, which also includes Freight Farm, a hydroponic farm.

The vet tech lab, which includes an autoclave machine, exam tables, and a large pet wash station, will enable pet owners to bring their dogs and cats in for grooming and other routine procedures such as ear cleaning, nail trimming, and blood work.

“This definitely gives our students an advantage over other students who don’t have access to any of this kind of training because it really gives them a basic foundation that they need to know and to learn to get into a tech school or work in a clinic,” said CVT instructor Michelle Reddy. “I want it to replicate a vet hospital setting as much as possible so they can see what their career can look like.”